When: 3 p.m. Thursday.
Where: Accor Arena, Paris, France.
TV: Bally Sports Detroit, NBA TV.
Radio: WXYT-FM 97.1 (Pistons radio affiliates).
• Box score
IN THE HOUSE:Victor Wembanyama, top prospect in 2023 NBA draft, to attend Pistons game in Paris
Game notes: The NBA’s global game for 2023 is in Paris, and pits the Pistons against the Bulls, with French point guard Killian Hayes the local favorite. The Pistons, who are the “home team” for this one, lobbied to be in this game and arrived Monday with a traveling party of around 200 people. Paris is six hours ahead of Eastern Time. Jalen Duren is available to play after missing the past five games with an ankle injury. … Read more about what the two teams have been doing this week, including sights, culture and opera.
The Bulls have, astoundingly, won 12 games in a row against their longtime Central Division rivals, and took the season’s first meeting Dec. 30 in Chicago, 132-118. The Pistons’ last win in the series came March 10, 2019, led by Blake Griffin’s 28 points. Chicago leads 141-133 head-to-head all-time.
HOMECOMING:Pistons’ Paris trip couldn’t come at a better time for France’s Killian Hayes
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The Bulls went 46-36 last season to earn the No. 6 seed, losing in five games to Milwaukee, but have been a disappointment so far and are fighting just to make the play-in tournament sitting 10th in the East. They have a trio of former All-Stars: DeMar DeRozan leads Chicago in scoring at 26.1 points per game and playmaking with 4.9 assists, Zach LaVine averages 23.9 points and Nikola Vucevic adds 17.5 points and 10.9 rebounds.
The Pistons, staring at a fourth straight 20ish-win season, are squarely in the conversation for the No. 1 pick in 2023 and the chance to draft French center Victor Wembanyama in June. Bojan Bogdanovic was a nice preseason trade acquisition, averaging 21.2 points and shooting 41.5% on 3-pointers, and rookie Jaden Ivey averages 15.1 points and 4.3 assists. … The Pistons return to the states and host Milwaukee on Monday.
Follow game updates below, and check out the latest episode of the Free Press’ podcast “The Pistons Pulse.” Listen on Apple, Spotify or wherever you load up podcasts.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Pistons NBA Paris Game vs. Chicago Bulls: Live updates
